ORAS NU Oh NU!

PoisonMafuba

Here I have a team for NU, because I've decided to start from the lower tiers and work my way up. Excluding PU, that is. As usual, I have run this team with relatively mixed results.

Grumpig @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 160 HP / 252 SpA / 96 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
- Thunder Wave
I am honestly not sure why I've included Grumpig, but it is probably just a little personal bias I have to it being a psychic type and a pig. Which I love. Anyways, Grumpig serves to cripple and prevent enemies from setting up, be it in some form of entry hazard or stat boosts. Taunt and Thunder Wave are the big reasons Grumpig is here, so that it may stop anything from setting up and cripple any switch-ins. Psyshock is here for STAB and hitting special walls, and Focus Blast provides a terrifying move the opponent does not want to switch into. The investments in HP and Spe are here to make sure Grumpig will A)Survive an attack to get a Thunder Wave off and B) Try to outspeed anything that tries setting up. The SpA investment provides a buff to it's attacking moves.

Hariyama @ Assault Vest
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Close Combat
- Heavy Slam
- Knock Off
For anybody who (unlikely) read my previous Double Battle team, It's no big secret that I love Hariyama, who serves as a sweeper and special wall thanks to the assault vest. Fake Out gives it a free turn, and can usually allow for a KO on it's second turn. Close Combat hits like a truck, and is very terrifying, guaranteed to do some major bruising to anything that does not resist. Heavy Slam is here to deal with any lightweights who think they can switch out on the big lug, and Knock Off is here to dominate any Psychic types. The investments in Hp and SpD let the big boy serve his roll as physical sweeping special wall, and the Def investment is there to help with physical attacks.

Garbodor @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 252 Atk / 160 Def / 96 Spe
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Gunk Shot
- Drain Punch
- Haze
If the opponent has no visible hazard setters, Garbodor is my main leading poke. Spikes is the reason Garbodor is on this team, as they provide a nice entry hazard and cannot be absorbed by poison types (unlike Toxic Spikes.) Gunk Shot makes Garbodor a force to be reckoned with, and almost nothing enjoys taking one to the face. Drain Punch works both as a counter to Steel types and as a means of health recovery. Haze is there to make sure a stat boosting plan is ruined, should Grumpig fail it's job. The investment in Atk lets this garbage heap hit hard, while the Def allows it to tango with physical attackers. I tried to make it just a bit faster with the Spe investment, so it can get at least one spike layer up.

Magmortar @ Air Balloon
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 8 HP / 252 SpA / 248 SpD
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Will-O-Wisp
Here is my choice Fire type for the tier, Magmortar. One of the most underrated pokemon in my opinion, Magmortar is here to show people what damage it can do by means of being a special attacker. Fire Blast from Magmortar is essentially a Close Combat from Hariyama. You don't want to be hit by it, and you certainly don't want to be weak to it. Thunderbolt is here to catch any Water types off guard by zapping them into oblivion. Hp Ice is here to bring down Ground types, and Will-O-Wisp serves as a way to bring damage on enimies, while also lowering their attack. The HP and SpD investments let Magmortar take special hits, while the SpA investment needs no explanation, I'm sure.

Rotom @ Wise Glasses
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Hex
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp
Rotom was a strange choice for me, I'm not going to lie. But I've grown attached to the little bugger, and it serves to cripple while scarring the enemies at the same time. Hex is what made me come out and choose Rotom. It has a measly base power, sure, but add the Wise Glasses, STAB and double damage from the status effects, and it does hella damage (I was curious and checked it with a calm Max SpD assault vest Regice, it has an almost 100% chance to 4HKO after burn. Not really relevant I suppose, but meh.) Thunder Wave and Will-O-Wisp are here to provide the status afflictions needed for Hex, and Volt Switch helps me get out when things are not looking too good for the ball of electricity. The investments in SpA and Spe let it wreck as much havoc as possible, and the SpD is just there.

Mawile @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Play Rough
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance
This is whom I am most willing to replace. No offense to Mawile, but it just isn't performing as previously anticipated. My original intention was for it to be able to set up sword dance and sweep late game, with Play Rough and Iron Head as STAB and Sucker Punch as Priority. The investments are here to try and make it capable of doing this, but it just didn't work out.

There we go, I am willing to have any of these members replaced, and I appreciate your consideration and any suggestions you may have.​
 
Hey dude,

Nice team you have here, you have a cool combination of underused Pokémon and the type synergy you have is amazing. I also like the mixture of balance and offense you have, between defensive threats and offensive ones. It's very nice. Anyway, onto improving it. The Lack of Stealth Rocks is something that concerns me most. In a singles meta like NU, SR is completely neccesary as it hits every Pokémon in the tier (besides magic guard users etc) breaking potential focus sashes, and generally getting damage on Pokémon. Stuff that are weak to SR are most directly affected, and allows you to kill them much more easierly as you pressure them (e.g. Swellow, Magmortar, etc). I would say also either Grumpig or Hariyama is redundant. The niche both mons have over their fighting / Psychic type counterparts is that they can tank Fire / Ice / Special hits much easier than them, thus giving them a niche. Having both on a team means that you don't have a set purpose for one or the other when you do encounter those mons on the field. Although that's good that neither are pressured heavily, it often means that one gets no work to do and you can't afford any slackers when you get into highly competitive games. You also lack of a Volt Switch absorber. This is quite crucial since stuff like Rotom can come in and force stuff out and get free momentum for the opposing team. Free damage essentially. It's crucial you have a Volt Switch resist, since your team doesn't have much reliable recovery either.

Okay, so onto my suggested change. I'm going to suggest Piloswine > Grumpig. The reason I have selected Piloswine is because it provides all the niches I was talking about earlier. Reliable Stealth Rocks (Xatu won't switch in fearing Icicle Crash which kills it), a very strong Volt Switch Resist in this meta, and a more balanced layout with more pressure on Hariyama. Of course, Piloswine does have thick fat which is ability of choice which may seem contradicting, but honestly, Piloswine isn't going to enjoy taking Fire Type attacks and it can't touch the common Ice Types, its purely their for utility and you could easily run Oblivious over it for that nice Taunt Immunity. Piloswine is Jesus in this meta. Not only does it check all the drops (bar the useless hitmonchan), it eats up electric attacks from all Rotom formes and has a very reliable SR. Free revenge kill on Lilligant is really, really nice.

Now onto your sets, some of which are quite sub-optimal and need solving. First off, I would like to request Bullet Punch > Heavy Slam on Hariyama. Dual Priority Hariyama is the most standard Yama set for good reason, it means it can revenge kill weak targets with ease, simulating an 80 base power priority move between fake out + Bullet Punch. The reason why I'm selecting Heavy Slam is because CC + Knock Off is by far the best coverage to have on it, and all heavy Slam hits is Mega Audino, which you have the Mawile and Garbodor to check with. Next up, I think you can get away with running Toxic Spikes > Haze on Garbodor. Haze doesn't do much for Garbodor, it allows it to check Malamar, but since you have 2 psuedo checks in Rotom and Mawile, Malamar (at least the better Restalk set) shouldn't be too big of an issue. Toxic Spikes on the other hand will be so useful for your team. Hariyama loves them because of the free 12% damage at least thanks to fake out, Rotom loves it because of Hex, Magmortar loves it because grounded Pokémon mainly check it, as with Mawile as well. It just makes much better sense than Haze which will only be used every so often. Then comes to the Magmortar. This set needs an entire overhaul since its really wasteful. I'll link the new set down below with Piloswine, but in short what I am doing is replacing your item for Life Orb , Tidying Up the EV Spread so that you outspeed required Pokémon as well as be most efficient with your bulk investments, and swap HP Ice for HP Grass and Will-O-Wisp for Earthquake. HP Ice hits nothing you already don't hit, HP Grass is useful for Quagsire which can be problematic if you don't have Rotom at full health (likely), and EQ for the common Lanturn switch in. Lanturn is everywhere and having EQ to bop it on the switch in not only helps mag, but Rotom too which is also checked by it. As far as Rotom itself is concerned, an item swap to Spell tag (> Wise Glasses) and a move swap; Shadow Ball > Twave would be what I reccomend. The reason why I swapped the item is that you are never really going to feel that 1.1x power boost with such weak moves anyway, it doesn't really confirm 2hkoes like Spell Tag does. It also means we have high powered Shadow balls, this is just for bluffing the Choice Scarf set. Or dealing good neutral damage to opponents which aren't statused and immune to Volt Switch. Overall, its the most efficient way to use Rotoms limited Moveslots.

Anyway, that's it from me for changes, I really like the look of your team and if you decide to implement any / all of these changes, your team will be a much more threatening asset to attack players with n_n

Piloswine @ Eviolite
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Atk / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Icicle Crash
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard

Magmortar @ Life Orb
Ability: Vital Spirit (probs better than flame body)
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Fire Blast
- Thunderbolt
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Grass]

good luck with your future endeavours
~HJAD

Edit: you lack a Scald switch in with these changes, a quick swap for Guts > Thick Fat on Yama makes the most sense and is the easiest swap to make.
 
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Hey PoisonMafuba cool team. I'm going to be building off of HJADs rate as I think its a good starting point to fine tune your team.

As of right now you're missing a water resist, which can be quite detrimental as you don't have anything to take a scald burn. Your team is also a bit slow, which is some what made up for by the fact that you have 3 priority users. You said that you didn't like Mawile, and while its fine on your team I'll offer some suggestions that fix your no water resist as well as offer up a different setup sweeper.

There are 2 different Pokemon that I think would make a good substitute for Mawile, those being Lilligant and Shiftry. Lilligant is absolutely terrifying right now having the ability to put a pokemon to sleep with Sleep Powder and then setup on the opposing team. Its faster, gives you a water resist as well as a bulky sweeper. The second option is SD Shiftry which while giving you a water resist, does not give you a Scald absorber. So if you decide on Shiftry switch Hariyama from Thick Fat to Guts. Shiftry is pretty much a faster Mawile in that they both fill the same role while having good priority, difference being their STABs. It was pointed out that Mawile gives your team an easy Malamar check, which in this current meta I don't find a dedicated Mawile check necessary. On top of which you also have Garbodor and powerful specially based Pokemon to easily keep it in check. The other change I would make is to switch Hex > Shadow Ball on Rotom as Hex is generally the better move on a set that wants to burn everything.

Shiftry @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Seed Bomb

Lilligant @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sleep Powder
 
Spell Tag! I knew that there was an item that was better than the wise glasses, but I had forgotten what it was called. Anyways, thank you for the useful advice, I will be sure to take it into consideration~
 
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